


Don't Walk Away From Me

by thosewhofall



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Breakup, F/F, M/M, Other, Relationship Woes, dragking, there's not much on that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-09
Updated: 2013-02-09
Packaged: 2017-11-28 16:43:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/676614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thosewhofall/pseuds/thosewhofall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eponine is a drag king. Cosette doesn't want her to be anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Walk Away From Me

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I kept trying to make this end happily and it kept not so this is what you get.

Eponine was never nervous before a performance until right before her performance. Her heart rate was super steady until she got on the stage and saw the crowd and then she almost choked. It happened every time she went on stage. She always got up there, though, she always made it, dressed in whatever clothes she could steal from the boys and fashion into a decent outfit. And she danced her ass off. But it didn’t stop her nerves. Not even  a successful performance made those go away.  
“You were great out there tonight, ‘Ponine.” It was Enjolras at her dressing room door. It was always Enjolras. He made a point to wait for her, walk her home despite the fact that Eponine had told him a million times not to.  
“I’m always great.” Eponine said, but glanced up with pinked cheeks. “Why aren’t you home, in bed with R?”  
“Because you’re 5’7” and the perfect candidate for kidnapping.” Enjolras answered, “But you knew that before you asked the question.”  
“Did she come tonight?” Eponine asked softly, not looking up from where she was brushing out her hair at the mirror, it having been pinned up for several hours.  
“No.” Enjolras answered at the same volume, “She hates these things.”  
“Well she could be supportive for forty-five minutes four times a week. It wouldn’t kill her.”   
“Ep, you know she’s been going through a lot lately.” Enjolras wasn’t on Cosette’s side. He wasn’t he swore. “It’s been a rough couple of months.”  
“I think she’s seeing Marius again.” Eponine still wouldn’t look at Enjolras.  
“I don’t think you’re right.” Enjolras said. “Eponine, you worry too much. Cosette isn’t doing anything wrong.”  
“Then why do you and the boys make it to every single one of my shows and she never comes?” There might have been tears in her eyes but she would never admit to it. “She doesn’t have that much homework. She’s sleeping every time when I get home. I get up earlier than her most mornings!”  
“Have you talked to her about this? Maybe I’m the wrong person to be yellping at.”  
“I’m not yelling at you!” Eponine realized that he was right and sat down in the chair at the vanity, deflated. “Sorry Enjy.”  
“Don’t call me that.”  
\--  
Eponine fell into bed with an exhausted sigh, staring at the soft blond curls of her girlfriend, “I missed you tonight.” She whispered, moving Cosette’s hair off of her cheek so she could kiss it as she wound her body around the other womans.  
“I’m sorry.” Cosette whispered.  
Eponine frowned, “What are you sorry for?” She asked, running her hands up Cosette’s side.  
“Grantaire called.” She said, “He asked why his boyfriend had to comfort my girlfriend because I couldn’t be bothered to go watch you perform.”  
Eponine resolved to hit Grantaire the next time she saw him. “He just makes sure I get home safely.” She said, “Nothing more.”  
“I’m not accusing you of anything, Eponine. R was right. I should be a more supportive girlfriend. I’m just tired.”  
“If you’re tired all the time, have you thought about seeing a doctor, or at least talking to Joly?”  
“I’m not tired all the time, or tired of life.” Cosette turned around in Eponine’s arms. “I’m tired of this life. Of you going out and coming home late and coming to bed smelling like cigarettes and Enjolras’ cologne.” Cosette glanced up, “Can’t you get a regular job? With normal hours?”  
“This job pays the bills, Cosette It keeps our lights on and I’m good at it.” Eponine stared, “Are you seriously asking me to quit my job because you’re tired of me doing it? What the fuck, Cosette?”  
Cosette pulled away from Eponine, “I’m just asking you to do something more normal. Something I can be proud to tell people about. It’s not exactly a good word on your character for me to be like ‘Yeah, my girlfriend is a drag king.’”  
Eponine was out of the bed before Cosette could say another word. “Are you saying ypu’re ashamed of me? Because I like to dress up and sing and entertain people? That’s shameful to you?” Her eyes grew misty, the girl who never cried.  
“I’m not ashamed of you Eponine. Just...you dress up like a boy and dance around on stage to slutty songs and people shove money at you. Am I supposed to be proud of that?”  
Tears streamed down Eponine’s face. “No.” She said, “But I didn’t realize you hated me for it.”  
\---  
Morning light found Eponine in bed with Enjolras and Grantaire, curled against E’s chest with R behind her, comforting her. She’d been inconsolable the night prior, showing up later than even Grantaire considered it reasonable to be out, blabbering about Cosette being ashamed of her and wanting her to quit her job and calling her slutty. It had been Eniolras’ idea, no surprise there, to bring her to bed, comfort and warmth and closeness doing more to calm her aching heart than words could. Besides, Enjolras was good at compelling speechas and Grantaire was a painter. Anything either of them said would probably just upset her further.  
It was the whimsical ringtone that Jehan had set on Enjolras’ phone that woke them from slumber.  
Enjolras groaned as he answered it. “What do you want, Prouvaire, it’s not even noon.”  
“Someone.” There was a pointed pause. “Would like me to ask if you know where Eponine is. She seems to have reason to believe she’s with you.”  
“She’s here. How’s Cosette.” Enjolras rolled out of bed and wandered into the living room. “Eponine’s a wreck.”  
“Well let’s see. She showed up at not even nine am sobbing that she’d ruined everything and begging for advice on how to fix it.” Jehan sounded bitchy this morning. It was a rare side of him that Enjolras seemed to be on the receiving end of far too much. “And then it’s taken me ‘til now to get fed up enough with trying to get the story from her, so I’m hoping that our fearless leader might have it.”  
“Eponine showed up at 3:30am a sobbing mess and we didn’t get much of a story either.” Enjolras let out a long sigh and rubbed at his eyes, “Keep trying to see what she said. ‘Ponine worked last night, I’m going to let her sleep a while longer.”  
Jehan scoffed. “Oh yes, you get the more rational one and the one with more sleep. Perfectly fair.”  
“Sounds like someone needs a nap.”  
“Shut up, Enjolras.”  
\--  
“So she asked you to stop performing.” Enjolras asked as they sat down for coffee a few blocks from the apartment, “And said it was because she was ashamed of you?”   
Eponine nodded soberly, her eyes still red but out of tears to cry. “And she’s never had a problem with it before so I don’t understand why all of a sudden it’s an issue.” She clung to her coffee cup, her fingers white and her face red.  
“Are you sure she hadn’t had a problem with it until now? Maybe she didn’t feel like she could talk to you about it?”  
“Well calling me slutty in the middle of the night isn’t exactly the way to go.”  
“Yeah that I don’t get.” Grantaire piped up from beside Enjolras, “You’re the furthest thing from slutty. You wear more clothes than half of the other performers and your dances are masculinely seductive and you like women.” He made a face, “I don’t understand that at all.”  
“Welcome to the club.” Eponine grumbled.  
“Well maybe Jehan will have gotten some answers out of Cosette by now.” Enjolras offerered.   
“Or maybe she’s packing  and moving back into her fathers house and getting out of my hair. At this point I don’t even want to see her again. Ever.”  
\--  
“So you told her that her job was slutty and you were ashamed of her and you didn’t expect her to go out to Enjolras’ in the middle of the night?” Jehan picked at his nails as Cosette stared at her coffee. “I think you were a bit harsh with her.”  
“I didn’t mean to call it slutty.” Cosette said, voice low, “I just meant that I’d rather she spend more time with me, at home, at reasonable hours of the day instead of always dancing and working on her dancing or costumes. Maybe I wanted to go out and get drunk and dance with my girlfriend instead of just watching.” Cosette wiped a tear from her eye, “I just miss her, Jehan,  I miss the girl I fell in love with.”  
Jehan made a knowing face at the blond woman, “I think you’re telling the wrong person, honey.”   
“Yeah right. Like Eponine will even look at me right now.”  
“So go see your dad. Spend a couple days. Let ‘Ponine relax and calm down about it.” Jehan shrugged, “It’ll all work out. It always does.”  
“Yes but she doesn’t normally run out like this.”  
“You caught her on  a bad night.” Jehan shrugged again, really done with the conversation she was having, “But again, cosette, my darling.” He leaned forward, “I’m not your girlfriend. I’m not the person you need to talk to.”  
\--  
It was three days before anything got resolved. Three days of Eponine crashing at the guest bed at E + R’s and Cosette sleeping at Jehan’s. Neither wanted to return to the apartment they shared. They’d both gone back when they knew the other wouldn’t be there, for clothes and books and food, but they avoided each other for three days.  
No one was sure how to handle the situation, what to say or how they could fix what had been broken. The general consensus was that Cosette had messed up but that Eponine wasn’t helping the situation. She was being incredibly stubborn about the whole thing.  
It was Cosette who broke first. (“Predictable.” -  Jehan) and was sitting outside Eponine’s Friday morning class with a cup of Eponine’s favorite starbucks drink, in a sundress with sunglasses covering her eyes, her hair long and curly and startlingly blond. It was how Eponine had always said she’d looked best; as natural as she could get.   
Eponine stopped just long enough to cause a backup getting out of the building when she saw Cosette, taking a long breath and moving out of the way as she stared at her girlfriend, tucking her short hair behind her ear with one hand. “What are you doing here?” She asked softly.  
Cosette held out the coffee cup and flipped up her sunglasses, meeting Eponine’s eyes, “I’m here to beg you to take me back.” She admitted. “I can’t say that I didn’t mean everything that I said that night, but I didn’t mean to push you away.”   
Eponine took the coffee cup and walked past Cosette, knowing she’d follow, walking slowly, “What did you mean?” She asked, taking a sip and not looking at the blond.  
“That I want you to stop dancing. That I miss spending time with you.” Cosette shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest. “That I want you to get a normal job with normal hours so that maybe once in a while we can have dinner. Maybe you can  not be constantly designing and choreographing.”  
Eponine shook her head, “You want me to just quit, just stop? Cosette I live with you. We spend every night together.” She stopped to look at her, “What do I need to do differently? Why is my dancing such a problem all of a sudden?” She set her jaw.  
“Because I realized that I don’t ever get to see you.” Cosette said, “Eponine, you’re always doing something for the club, promos, dancing, choreographing, making costumes. You’re not even a performance major. You just do it. If you were, maybe this would be helpful for you, but it’s just...taking time away from things you should be focusing on, like school...and...” Cosette shook her head, “This is pointless.”  
Eponine nodded, “I’m not quitting.” She stared at Cosette, “I love my job. I love you, but I can’t just stop what I love to do, what makes me happy, because you say to.”  
“Don’t I make you happy, Eponine?”  
Eponine faltered for a moment. “I have to live my own life. I’ve been with you forever, Cosette.” She leaned forward, pressing a kiss to the girl’s cheek. “I think maybe it’s time for me to see what else is out there, find someone who doesn’t ask me to stop.”  
“Don’t do this, Eponine.” There are tears in Cosette’s eyes, “Eponine please.”  
Eponine wipes away a tear of her own, “I’ll help you find somewhere else to live, or maybe you can live with your dad.”  
“Eponine...”  
“I love you. But I can’t do this.” Eponine raised the cup, “Thanks for the coffee.” She turned to walk away.  
\--  
“They broke up.” Enjolras said when he answered Jehan’s call.   
“Yeah I got that much.” Jehan’s sarcasm could be heard over the phone, “I want to know what we’re doing about it.”  
“They’re grown women, Prouvaire, why do we have to do anything?”  
Jehan let out a groan, “Because Cosette is asking to move in with me and I can’t come up with a good reason to say no.”  
“I’m not seeing the issue.”  
“It’s hard to remain a neutral party when COSETTE IS LIVING IN MY HOUSE.”  
“Jehan.”  
“Enjolras.”  
“There was never such a thing as a neutral party.” Enjolras sighed, “They have a right to live their own lives. Let them.”  
“Yes but Eponine’s the more sane of the two, why do you always get to deal with the more sane of the two?”  
“Um.” Enjolras glanced at his couch, “If you were here right now, you’d not be accusing me of dealing with the sane one.”


End file.
